Information Technology Spending to Hit $3.6 Trillion in 2012

Fueled by an accelerating move to cloud computing, and by a boom in associated telecommunications services, worldwide information technology spending is increasing somewhat faster than expected, according to industry analysts at Gartner.

Over all, people will spend $3.6 trillion on information technology in 2012, the research firm said. This represents a 3 percent increase from 2011, when $3.5 trillion was spent, Gartner said, and is up from the 2.5 percent increase projected three months ago.

The increase, while modest, is notable because it is happening in the face of a financial crisis in Europe, slow growth in the United States, and a slowdown in China’s economic growth.

Spending on public cloud services is expected to increase 20 percent, to $109 billion, from $91 billion in 2011. By 2016, Gartner said, this expenditure could nearly double, to $207 billion.

That would still be a relatively small portion of the total spending, though it tends to represent considerable computing power and potentially more efficient I.T. systems.

The greatest spending in the field, by far, remains telecommunications services. Gartner forecast that companies would spend $1.69 trillion on telecommunications this year, up only 1.4 percent from 2011. Fees for these services tend to be dropping, but Gartner cited increased demand from developing economies, as well as the rising demand generated by the boom in connected devices, like tablets and game consoles.

Gartner said over 200 business and technology analysts worldwide contributed to the report. These analysts also saw a 2.3 percent increase, to $864 billion, in fees for technology service. The consultants said consulting was in high demand, as companies try to manage things like their own complex systems, cloud computing, and the rise of analytics.

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